Method of applying abrasives to grinding apparatus.



H; K. HITCHGOGK.

METHOD OF APPLYING ABRASIVES TJ GRINDING APPARATUS.

APPLIOATIOH FILED JULY 31, 1911. RENEWED MAR. 27, 1914. 1,0,99,366.'

Patented June 9,1914.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1- n wi l;

INVENTOR A 1 II ,III a an. n a w s L H. K. HITCHCOGK. METHOD OF APPLYING ABRASIVES T0 GRINDING APPARATUS. APPLIOATION FILED JULY 31, 1911. RENEWED MAR. 21, 1914.

1,099,366. Patented June 9,1914.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

i INVENTOH OFFICE.

unman-r x."mrc'ncocx, or transition, PENNSYLVANIA.

:" memos or Arcturus Ammswns To eanmme APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

- Patented June 9, 1914;

I appl cation pied-Jun e1, .1011, Serial No. 641,482. r n wed Menu 27, 1014'. 'Seria11q'o.f8 27,774.

1b all whomit may concern:

.Be; it known thatI, HALBEn'r K. HITCH- cocmaresident ,ofTarentum, in the county of, Allegheny and State :of 4 Pennsylvania,

have invented'ia 'new and .useful Improvement in Methods of Applying Abrasives 'to 3 Grinding Apparatug'ol which the following is aspecificatlon.

v Th'is, inventionrelates' to a method of-handling sand or other abrading material for use withgrindin'g'. machines,such as-used "inthe grindingand smoothing of. plate glass- The obiect of invention is to simplify thehandling' of the material. and delivery of the'sa'me to the grinding machine mixed with waters In the'mnuaaur of plate glass -t h eplates, are ground by p the use of sand or similar abrasivcmixedw'ith water. Considerable quantities of abrading'rnaterial must be used, and in the larger plants this is brought to; the-place of use bye clam shell bucket or the like,.and deposited in aliopper or bin, from which it is. delivered from time *to. time toj the grinding tables. It has also been. proposed to provide apparatus for grading. the sand while in suspension in water,- z'. aseparating itinto grades ofdifferent sizes or-character'istics, and very recently'such' a para-tus has been installed in one ortwo p ants. In the most up ,to date plants, the sand is taken from. the'sand pile and mechanically transferred to a hopper "or 'binandstored until required for the "f inding operation. When. deposited in. a'

opper,'the damp sand packs tightly therein 1 and arches 'or bridges over the discharge openingand will not without assistance run out when the discharge outlet is opened.

Inasmuch as these hoppers advantageously converge toward the bottom andthe sand is deposited therein fromoverhead, the mass fpacks in quite tightly so that arching and "clogging inthe'hopperis the-rule.

Thepurpose of thepreSent invention is to'facilitate the handling of sand and simila'r abradingjmaterial under the conditions stated i and ,ma manner to'permit it to be carried to the place of use by c am shell buckets or other mechanical means, and de-' posited from-overhead into a suitable hopper, from which, it isdelivered in a cont nnous stream mixed with -liquid,-]1n which condition it can either w v v directly tothe e ms ble or to suita le grading apparatus. v r

In theaccomp'anying drawings, Figurelll IS a dlagrammaticelevational view of appa ratus for carrying out the method; Fig. 2

is a side elevationon an enlarged scale of the lower end of the sand hopper and valve -closing the same; Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the same; and Fig. his a vertical section through the same.

Inthe drawings, 1 represents the hopper for receivin the sand and storing the safne until. needed for use. This hopper is open atthe top and is adapted to have the sand delivered thereinto by any suitable overhead means, the drawings showing both a clam shell bucket 2 and acohduit 3 forthis purpose, the clam shell bucket being used for dry and wet sand, and the conduit when the sand is carried in suspension in water,

in which latter case'the superfluous water is withdrawn through an overflow pipe 15.

The hopper-is of modified conical form,

decreasingin size from its top downward and having its rear or bottom wall .4-sloping on a rather flat angle.- The sand deposited into such hopper from the clam shell bucket or other overhead; delivery means is liable, unless absolutely dry, to pack tightly and wedge toward the bottom, and thisevilf is increased if the sand is fairly damp or wet, which is the usual condition. The discharge opening 5 is fromthe'lower', small .end or apex of the l1opper, and consequently the heavy, wet sand falling into the hopper from above, packs so tight y that it invariably forms a bridge or arch over thedis charge, opening.

The discharge opening 5-is closed by 2', or swung forwardly and upwardly to ,open. the discharge opemng, as shown in Fig. 4. v

The :valve may be 'actuated'by any suitset. screwv 1131 21 lying between-lugs 13;on one of the side platesor Wings v7 of. thevalve, .Thejshaft or key 10 can loo-actuated orrotated by an suitable means, either by hand or mechan cal means. Usually it" is operated by providing the samewith a;suitable lever or arm 14 which projectsdownwardly a suf ficient distance .to be readily operfed'by the attendant. .Any other suitable valve may be used for controlling the discharge opening. 1 v a In order tocause the sand torun freely and smoothly from. the hopper notwithstandingthe bridging or arching thereof,

I provide suitable fluid pressure connecthe material from underneath. This may be accomplished in various. ways, and in a crude way can. be effected by. merely turning the nozzle of a hose through the -dis charge opening 5 when-the valve 6 is open. As illustrated in the drawings, this is accomplished by means of a stream of water supplied through pipe 16 toa small chamber 17, cored out in the casting 9 and from which an opening 18, leads upwardly into the hopper; so that a jet of water can -'be thrown up against the arched or bridged mass of sand and gradually wash away and remove the same from below. Another opening 19 is also preferably provided and so arranged as to project a jet' o wafer across the dischargeopening and break up or. dislodge any sand which may mass at this point; or the valve 6 may be adjusted to discharge the required volume of mixture and the space below the abrasive may be filled with liquid from the pipe 16, so that when the liquid reaches the latter -the abrasive will drop down through the liquid to the discharge opening 6-,and be dis-',

shut off the liquid and wait for the abrasive still in suspension to be discharged.

In case the'abrasive isfro zen, either hot,

water 7 'or steam or both are introduced "through thepipe 16 so-that the'abrasive is thoroughly thawed out before being applied on theLgrinding' table. -The practicability oi this-manner of removing packed sand from the hopper will be readily apparent.

It also'has the advantage ofremoving the "the latteris used, in a lumpy con ition,

- tables.-

' bda saiid in watered thatfiit Y ader if but is in much better condition either for grind notjreach the grinding table or ingxdirectly or grading than if delivered from the hopper in a substantially dry condi'tion; c Y

The sand" canbe taken directly'from'the hopper. to the grinding table, which is shown at 20 and which may beef the usual or any desired form of plate glass grinding The table shownis mounted upon a bottom shaft 21 and driven/by means of V,

gear 22' or other suitable means on said shaft, and. is rovided with the usual runners- 23. The gutter 24 around the table catches the sand and water as it is dis-g charged from the table and returns it to the grader or leads itto the sewer. A suit- I "able pipe or trough 25 conducts the sand tions, preferably hydraulic, for removing and waterto said table,'preferably betweenv the runners, as is usual.

In the arrangement shown'inthe draw-4" vings, the sand is delivered from the ho per 1 to a grader'for dividing it into gra es of diflferent. sizes or characteristics This gradermay be [of various forms but is shown as an inverted cone shaped vessel 2 7-adapted to receive thesand at the'top and having connections for projecting upwardly therein construction andarrangement thereof may vary withincons'iderable liinits.- The trough or pipe 25 conducts the graded material from the grader 27 to the grinding table.

The sand and water coming from the grindin table through the gutter 2 1 is preferably he toa pit or sump; notshown, from which. it is returned to the grader and is re-graded- 30'represents the overflow pipe forcarry ing to the sewer the mud and very fine and scummy substances in" the grader.

Sirepresents a fine sand 'cone: -for-fini sh ing, as described in the companion application Serial No. 641,483 filed concurrently vention claimed herein, it is not-described.

he herewith, but asitforms no part of thein- In carrying out the invention, the sand-' is deposited in hopper '1 and is removed therefrom in quantities. as desired by-merely opening valve 6 andturning on the water through pipe 16, whichexcavatesthepacked- I sand from below and carries itmixed with a water to the grader 27. Not being lumpy or in large masses it reaches the grader in the best possible condition for gradingfwith-j out violently --agitating the 'mixture injthe grader or splashing, as is the case when the relatively dry. sand is de osited -directlyinto 1 5 the grading vessel. In e cone 27 it. is. suitably graded and then taken grade by grade in the proper sequence to the grinding table.

and I wish it understood that no limitations are to be imposed upon the terms ofthe claims hereinafter made on account of either the specific apparatus illustrated in the drawings or described in the specification.

What I claim is 1. The method of handling abrading material, which consists in depositing the material in a mass in a hopper, introducing into the bottom of said =hopper liquid in suflicient quantity to excavate the packed abrading material from below and forma mobile mixture of liquid and abrading material, and withdrawing the mixture of liquid and abrading material from saidhopper.

2. The method of .handling abrading material, consisting in depositing the material in a mass and from above in a hopper having a bottom opening, and introducing into said hopper from below a stream of water, to thereby attack the mass from. below and wash or remove the material from the bottom of the hopper.

3. The method of handling abrading materiahconsisting in depositing'the material in a mass in a hopper converging downwardly and provided with an opening in its bottom, and injecting into the hopper from below and through said opening a stream of liquid and thereby slowly and uniformly removing the mass of material.

4. The method of handling abrading material for grinding machines and the like, consisting in depositing the material in a mass in a hopper converging downwardly and provided with an outlet in its bottom, injecting into the hopper from below a stream of water and thereby slowly and uniformly removing the mass of material, and then conducting the material to the grinding machine.

5. The method of handling abrasive material for rinding machines and the like, consisting in depositing the material in a mass in the,hop er converging downwardly and provided with an outlet in its bottom, injecting into the hopper from below' a stream of water, and thereby slowly and uniformly placing the material in suspension in'the water and removing it from the hopper, and then conducting the material while still in suspension in water to the grinding machine.

6. The method of handling abrading material for grinding machines,- consisting in depositing the sand in a mass in a hopper provided with an outlet opening in its bottom, injecting into the hoppera stream of water and thereby removing the mass of material, then grading such material while in suspension, and finally conducting the material in grades to a grinding machine.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand.

HALBERT K. HITCHCOCK.

Witnesses Manna S. Tnonrrson, W..C. Lyon. 

